Stubborn Dana 44 keyed rear axle hub?

I just spent all day on one rear axle hub...I have the correct puller type. three jaws pulling on the lug studs/nuts. using an impact to get it tight then I have tried heat, smacking the puller with a hammer...and using a breaker bar to get a few more turns on the puller...all to see zero movement.

Does anyone have some good advice?

The jeep bible and re-builders guide say not to hit too hard. I called the guys at R&P and they said you got to hit em hard sometimes...How much heat? really really frustrated...coulda had new discs on hours ago and been on to fronts!

 

smack puller with hammer then tighten and repeat until it pops loose which will most likely be violent so dont stand in its way

 

been doing that...does it help to leave the puller just snug and then hit? I have been bottoming the puller out then smacking after smacking i get no more turns on puller...47 years and it does not want to budge!

 

12ft cheater on my breaker bar got mine off.
One trick I have read is to get a lot of tension on the puller and walk away. I guess holding tension on it for a few hours can cause it to come free. Just make sure nobody walks by it while it is under tension.

 

This is what I would do...I would put as much tension I could on it and walk away for the night

Return tomorrow and try again

 

Actually that is what i did, thanks for the replies...I will let you know how it goes and hopefully have pics of the new discs on all four corners soon!

 

Smart plan please let us know how it turns out

 

Are you smacking the puller with the hammer or the drum? I have good luck tensioning the puller up and then smacking the drum with the hammer.

 

Cut em off and buy new hubs. I couldnt save mine.. I bent them trying to pull/press/heat them off. However on another axle I obtained.. I now have spares. And reinstall with glorious amounts of anti seize.

 

Dan, that reminds me when I tore one apart last year it was fairly stubborn and I bent the hub as well...if you plan to reuse any parts please examine carefully

 

I had the exact same problem on mine. I only had a two jaw puller and it didn't work so I rented a puller from a FLAPS. My impact gun wasn't enough so I tried a cheater bar and broke the rented puller. Rented another one and broke it too. I finally bought the old-fashioned puller that is designed to smack with a BFH and it magically worked.

 

well, i got it off...used the proper 3 jaw puller bolted to the lugs....tightened with air impact...heated with torch, put a 3 ft pipe on the 1/2" drive breaker bar and turned the puller about 1/2 a turn more...smacked the backside (away from the axle) of the puller with a 2 pound sledge and it came right off...flew about two feet! did the other side the same way and it took all of ten minutes...the first one took 12 hours...thanks for all the tips and advice...i will be rebuilding the whole axle now i think...as the side i was hitting has now come completely out from the diff....the hammering did break something. I was just trying to put the disc brake kit on. speaking of which...anyone done that>R&P disc upgrade? links? pics?